More Food Talk...

Review of the Taco Soup in Crockpot:

Again, I am not a bean person. Personally, it had too many beans for me. So next time I make it, I will put 1 can of kidney beans and 1 can of pinto beans. The actual liquid was reallllllyyyyyy delicious, but there wasnt enough of it. So next time, I will add more water. Or my mom adds chicken broth to hers...She says its a secret ingredient to her Taco Soup. Oops. I let it out :)

I finally made GRAVY!


Well, I was pan frying link sausage for this recipe. GT happened to be in kitchen at the time...I showed him the grease it had made, and he said he thought it was enough. So I plopped in 2 tablespoons of flour, a cup of milk. And the result is this:

He LOVED it...as you can see here:

But I still have gravy questions. Why didnt my patty sausage make any grease? And this grease only made enough for one person to have gravy, what if I am cooking for alot of people? Is it weird, I am wondering how to make grease????  













Oh, and I bought this cool wisk for the gravy. It is fun!














From my status last night on fb, many people want to know about this oh, so delicious sheath cake....yummmmmmmmm...Well first off, my first experience of Sheath cake was at my good friend Robin's house. Her mom likes to make it. And Robin doesnt like it---IS SHE CRAZY? She would rather have cookies. Crazy. Because it is probably one of the best desserts I have had in my whole life. As promised here is the recipe...which I found on Pioneer Woman. You can also google it, but all the recipes are pretty much the same. 

Sheath Cake

Ingredients

• FOR THE CAKE:
• 2 cups Flour
• 2 cups Sugar
• ¼ teaspoons Salt
• 4 Tablespoons (heaping) Cocoa
• 2 sticks Butter
• 1 cup Boiling Water
• ½ cups Buttermilk
• 2 whole Beaten Eggs
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• 
  
• FOR FROSTING:
• ½ cups Finely Chopped Pecans (optional, but it is delicious with them)
• 1-¾ stick Butter
• 4 Tablespoons (heaping) Cocoa
• 6 Tablespoons Milk
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• 1 pound (minus 1/2 Cup) Powdered Sugar

Preparation Instructions

In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, and salt.

In a saucepan, melt butter. Add cocoa. Stir together.
Add boiling water, allow mixture to boil for 30 seconds, then turn off heat. Pour over flour mixture, and stir lightly to cool.

In a measuring cup, pour the buttermilk and add beaten eggs, baking soda, and vanilla. Stir buttermilk mixture into butter/chocolate mixture. Pour into sheet cake pan and bake at 350-degrees for 20 minutes.

While cake is baking, make the icing. Chop pecans finely. Melt butter in a saucepan. Add cocoa, stir to combine, then turn off heat. Add the milk, vanilla, and powdered sugar. Stir together. Add the pecans, stir together, and pour over warm cake. (Make sure you pour the icing as soon as the cake comes out of the oven).  

This is what mine looked like. It also has alot of steps, so you might want to get someone to help you. GT helped, some. Except he freaks out when I dont measure things exactly...He says its because he is an engineer, I say its annoying.  But I am sure you can do it by yourself, I think next time I will try it solo.  If you want to see the recipe on Pioneer Woman go here, she has step by step pictures. 

\Who knows what this week of cooking will bring. GT's brother just got out of the Marines and he will be here this week/weekend. He is going back to to Japan on Sunday, where he has gotten a job for a year. We are excited about him coming, and I am slightly nervous about providing food for alot of people.